João Carlos Teixeira Brandão, the first Brazilian professor of Psychiatry.

Objective: To describe the highlights in the personal, professional, and political life of the first Brazilian Professor of Psychiatry.

Methods: The article draws on a wide range of documents: newspaper articles, documents of Brazilian medical institutions, scientific articles, theses, and books.

Results: João Carlos Teixeira Brandão was a distinguished 19th-century Brazilian psychiatrist and leader of the institutionalization and consolidation of the field of Psychiatry in Brazil.

One hundred and twenty years from the former 'Pavilion for Clinical Observation' to the National Lunatic Asylum, later Institute of Psychiatry - Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

The Pavilion for Clinical Observation in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, also known as the Pavilion for Admissions, was designed by Professor of Psychiatry João Carlos Texeira Brandão (1854-1921). It was based on the influence of French alienism as a forum for the screening and evaluation of possible mental illness and the forwarding to the National Lunatic Asylum of patients so diagnosed. It was officially created by the Federal Brazilian Decree number 1559 of October 1893 in order to assess the appropriate disposal of suspects sent by the police.